Posted by BMT Micro

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Have you ever wondered why certain blog posts outperform others by so much? Typical blog posts generate an influx of traffic soon after publication but start to “decay” as traffic volume gradually declines. However, some blog posts will generate increasing levels of organic traffic over time with no additional marketing effort.

Rather than decaying, compounding blog posts work to help your business attract more visitors long-term. These blog posts contain always-relevant information and grow organically. According to a Hubspot report, compounding blog posts typically represent about 10 percent of all blogs published, but they bring in as much as 38 percent of total blog traffic. One compounding blog post can also produce as much traffic as six decaying posts.

You can’t expect every post you write to be compounding, but there are certain characteristics many of these posts have in common.

What, how, why, and best. Studies show that blog titles including these words perform best.

Use Broad Tactical Topics. Most compounding posts intend to help readers by providing instructions, product reviews, and breakdowns of processes. Offer practical tips and clear advice that address topics, pain points, and challenges that resonate with your ideal audience.

Six to 13 words are the key length for your title. Anything more or less has been proven to not attract readers.

Remember SEO. Do keyword research to find actual words and phrases your audience uses that show long-term search volume.

Make it easy and enticing to read. Use plain language and follow formatting best practices. Typically, compounding blog posts will have subheadings, images, bullet points, short paragraphs, links to other information, and easily digestible content.

If you have an established blog, you may have already published content that fits the profile of a compounding post. Use your analytics to identify your own posts that have performed well over time, and to audit and monitor current content and traffic levels.

Compounding posts can significantly impact your traffic. Take the time to identify blog posts that continue to deliver relevance and long-term value.

Posted by BMT Micro

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Live-streaming video content has really begun to gain traction. According to Cisco’s June 2016 Visual Networking Index report, streaming video accounts for over two-thirds of all internet traffic, and this share is expected to jump to 82% by 2020. Furthermore, streaming video content online is becoming the most accessible way to consume entertainment.

As video streaming (for video games, hobbies, and more) grows, so does the popularity of live streaming. As we mentioned before, businesses do not need to put up a significant investment to try live video streaming with the growing availability of inexpensive and free applications. One of the best examples of this is Amazon’s late 2014 acquisition, Twitch.tv.

What is Twitch.tv?
Twitch.tv is “the biggest destination hosting channels for live streaming today. It began as a video game live-streaming platform and was acquired by Amazon in 2014 just under $1 billion. The viewing experience is full of information and features to hold your attention; in most cases, you’ll see a live feed of a game environment, with a smaller window in any given corner showing a view of the gamer at work, sitting at their monitor with headphones on and microphone at the ready” (Marketingland.com)

According to recent numbers released by the company, Twitch has over two million creators collectively streaming just under 460,000 years’ worth of video to an audience of more than 100 million. Twitch’s viewers also spend more than 1.5 hours per day on the network.

Originally, Twitch focused on video gaming, including playthroughs of video games, broadcasts of eSports competitions, creative content, and more recently, music broadcasts. Now, though, the company has expanded its offerings to diversify beyond video game streaming as a way to broaden its appeal to audiences and advertisers. “Twitch IRL” was recently launched and “it’s not just gaming; there are channels dedicated to watching people create artwork, or eat their dinner – a nod to the South Korean trend of ‘social eating’” (Twitch CEO, Emmett Shear).

Advertising & Marketing Opportunities
Typically, Twitch streamers interact with their audience as they are playing, and get paid by the number of viewer subscriptions. But, Twitch recently announced they are adopting a new advertising approach that will “reduce the efficiency” of ad blockers while ensuring a broader reach and more consistent delivery for advertisers.

According to Robin Fontaine, Twitch product marketer, the service’s newly introduced SureStream technology “will allow us to improve the video advertising experience for viewers and partners, improve ad deliverability by reducing the impact of third party services that bypass ads, and increase the advertising revenue pool available for partners.”

Twitch also announced the company will be bringing live video streaming to the Twitch mobile app enabling users to go live directly from their phone. This update can help Twitch grow into a bigger force on mobile and will keep the platform competitive against Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Twitch has already proven itself a leader in live streaming content and broadcasting there could help your business gain a significant following. With 88% of companies looking to invest in live stream video advertising over the next six months, it’s worth taking some time to implement live-stream content into your marketing strategy.

Posted by BMT Micro

Reading Time: 2 minutes

With the rise of ad blocking, bot fraud, social algorithms, and the decline in traditional TV viewership, nearly 85% of businesses worldwide are expected to launch at least one influencer marketing campaign in the next 12 months. Influencer marketing is not a new concept but will mature and play a renewed role in the marketing mix for 2017. According to Adweek, influencer marketing has increased more than 90 times in Google’s keyword search since 2013.

With more businesses looking to collaborate with influencers to add credibility to their brand, it’s clear influencer marketing can be highly effective. The most difficult part of executing an influencer marketing strategy is making it feel organic. This is why finding the right influencer to work with your business is key. The following are a few tips to get you started:

1. Identify influencers that align with your brand
Many businesses make the mistake of focusing on fans, followers, and subscriber counts only when considering potential influencers. These are key metrics to consider when looking at different influencers, but they are only part of what you should be focusing on and measuring. According to Vervely, the three key elements of social media engagement are conversions (comments/replies, applause (likes, favorites, etc.) and amplification (shares).

According to Adweek, Twitter users now trust influencers almost as much as their friends (49 percent rely on influencer recommendations while 56 percent rely on friends). But all influencers are not equal. Remember, the right influencer for your business may not be one with the largest following.

2. Ensure your campaigns will be profitable in the long run
One of the biggest challenges businesses face with marketing campaigns is the return on investment (ROI). Businesses want to know that for every dollar spent, they will see that same dollar back plus a percentage more. An influencer’s follower count and reach is one thing, but you also need to know that the audience being reached is the type of consumers likely to buy your products or services. Asking yourself some of the questions below can help you determine this:

Does my target audience know and trust this influencer?

Has the influencer successfully promoted similar products, services, or brands before?

Is the influencer known as an expert or thought leader in the industry/your niche?

Does their audience demographics line up with your target audience and business goals?

The success of your influencer marketing campaign relies heavily on the influencer you choose. There are many influencers out there with thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers. But, an effective marketing strategy is about identifying which influencers are dominating your niche, and also right for your business.

Posted by BMT Micro

Reading Time: 3 minutes

E-commerce has been limited in the physical world, but in the coming years, Artificial Intelligence could help take that experience to the next level. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are growing fast. According to Gartner by 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human and at the close of 2018; customer digital assistants will recognize customers by face and voice across channels. Gartner also estimates that 6 billion connected “things” will require AI support by 2018.

E-commerce has become a highly competitive market and brands that want to stay ahead of the curve should start looking at embracing AI as a way to enhance the customer experience. The following are three ways we are already seeing AI in action and what you should pay attention to as it becomes more prevalent.

Natural Language Processing
With the rise of digital assistants (Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, etc.), Artificial Intelligence has begun to reach a level where it is useful to many people’s daily lives. Last year, natural language processing for voice control and assistants made a huge impact. And, from a voice perspective, you can expect to see more options for AI assistants in the future.

Google and Microsoft are already using voice search and complex, multi-part queries to improve their understanding of natural language. According to research firm Markets and Markets, “The AI market for natural language processing (NLP) is expected to hold largest market share from 2016 to 2022. The growing implementation of natural language processing for the improvement of consumer services in the retail sector is one of the major factors contributing to its growth in the AI market.”

Better language understanding would make machines a lot more useful. Shoppers would be able to express their needs, desires and specifications in everyday language, which would result in a faster and more satisfactory shopping experience. But, language understanding has been a challenge and long-standing goal in artificial intelligence.

Personalized Product Recommendations & Chatbots
Current product recommendations systems generally use a product’s popularity to determine how and when to recommend it. But machine-learning recommendation systems will help discover better ways of modeling user behavior to make more accurate recommendations. Learning product recommendation systems promise to deliver product results that your shoppers are likely to want and buy.

Chatbots are also becoming a vital way to enhance the customer experience and handle initial contact with customers. Chatbots are designed to help customers easily navigate products for sale and provide personalized recommendations with in-depth data about customer preferences. According to Keenan Baldwin, Co-found of SiteZeus, ““AI has begun to do what loyalty programs have not. They’re building loyalty by understanding individual customer’s needs, timing, price-elasticity, and channel preference. Retailers will know what their customers’ needs are even before they do.” As artificial intelligence develops further, we can expect to see Chatbots interacting with customers in almost human terms.

From basic voice recognition to advanced machine learning and deep learning, there are many different levels of Artificial Intelligence. Over the next few years, the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence (along with the cloud, virtual reality, and many other technologies) to e-commerce is going to be very important in transforming our digital world. Ultimately, the future is bright for Artificial Intelligence and it is expected to reshape the e-commerce market and the expectations of online shoppers.